Week ten: I can't think of a witty title it's week ten (at the Spectrum)

My boyfriend was more than happy to take me to the Spectrum this weekend. I was really surprised how easily he agreed to drive me around just so I could take millions of pictures. He didn't want to let on but I think it was because he was really interested in the lights too! Anyway, I had work every day at two so I went to the stores during the day and luckily my room mate went to the Spectrum Saturday evening so I asked her to take some pictures of the architecture as well. I have to say that I was really surprised how BAD the lighting is in stores! It was really hard to find a good example, and I was appalled! I didn't even realize until I was actually looking for it though, I guess it's just become the norm! Well here are some pictures to help illustrate the facts:


 I was welcomed by very happy enthusiastic sales representatives, so I walked in pretty happy!






 THEN I REALIZED THE LIGHTS WEREN'T EVEN HITTING THE CLOTHING.







 The lights were all out of focus, and way more intense in different areas, where they shouldn't have been! What a bummer this store was for me. If your clothes are so expensive why can't you hire someone to take a look at this mess? The florescent lights were really bright on everything and made it look very fake and artificial. I didn't like it at all, the more I realized everything was skewed!


 When I got to the Oakley store I was more satisfied. Oakley shades are sophisticated and cutting edge, and I think that the lighting really helped show them off. In the cabinets they used side lighting so the lights hit the frames just right and the shadows from the glasses above didn't project below onto them.




I'm not an Oakley fan, but I still wanted to buy a pair because of how polished and neat they were presented. Something else I noticed is that the color of their lights are all slightly different, and the purple tinted light was hitting the purple clothing. It was probably a coincidence, but one that was working in their favor!




 Due to the fact that I work nights, my room mate was gracious enough to take photos of Spectrum at night for me. This is one of the ones that showed the practical light with the architectural. The lights were up for Christmas so all was pretty merry and bright. If you look in the top corner you can see the buildings lighting, which has the lights coming from mainly the bottom, so the shadows of the swirls is cast upwards. This is really cool because it makes it look more regal and impressive. The architecture itself is very ornate and decorative, and the lighting helps accentuate its elaborate more high end nature with it's simplicity and how it directs your eyes up and at the grand additions to the plain buildings. I think that the designer was effective in his purpose and goals... those the ones for the stores really missed their mark.